Elder Spencer Guy Vance
I have created this blog to help people follow me on my two year journey to serve and teach the people of Santa Rosa, California. I am serving a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and am speaking Spanish. I reported to the Missionary Training Center in Provo, Utah on August 10, 2011, and arrived in Santa Rosa on October 10, 2011. I will return home sometime in August of 2013. I love you all and hope to hear from you throughout this life-changing experience!
Thursday, August 15, 2013
Tuesday, July 30, 2013
The Last Hoorah!
With a week to go on my mission, I couldn’t help but
think of the many times I used to watch the movie, “The Best Two Years” before
my mission. It is about four Mormon missionaries in Holland and their
adventures there. I can now relate to some of the disappointments, laughs, spiritual
experiences, and life-changing moments that shaped them into who they became by
the end of their missions. The time has truly gone by faster than I ever would
have thought.
In the days I have left, I know I will be able to
find more of God's children that are ready to accept the gospel into their
lives. It is crazy to see how many people are unhappy in their lives and are
burdened down with stress. All of them are looking for peace and a source of
true happiness. Knowing it or not, they are all searching for the gospel of
Jesus Christ. Having the opportunity to talk with everyone about Jesus Christ
and how He has helped me in my life has truly opened my eyes more fully to see
God's eternal plan for all of His children.
I feel like we have prepared the fields and they are
ready to be harvested. I know that each one of our special investigators will
be baptized, some of them long after I am gone, but I do have a strong
testimony that I have made a difference with them and others. I feel it in my
heart. I know that I have worked as hard as I could and given it my all, and I
have felt more for the Lord and my brothers and sisters in this world than ever
before. There is a bond that will forever exist between me and those I have
taught and served, and for that I am grateful. Elder Johansen has learned so
quickly and is so ready to help this mission continue to rise. I am grateful
for him and for Elder Mahoney, as they both have taught me so much and I love
them like brothers. I have loved serving as an assistant and I have grown so
much from it. I have had the privilege of serving with two mission presidents
and their wives these past two years; I love them both so much and I have
learned so much from these four powerful leaders. I know that the Lord changes
us when we are willing to humble ourselves and become more like Him … to do as
He would do and to be what He wants us to be. Those are things I will continue
to work on my entire life, and my great wish is to continue to serve Jesus
Christ to the end.
I am also so excited about the opportunity I have to
tour my wonderful mission with my parents next week. It is going to be an
amazing experience. Thank you all for the love and great support you have given
me throughout my mission experience.
Los Quiero Mucho!
Elder Vance
Wednesday, July 24, 2013
My to Thy
What a great week it has been! My prayers and dreams
continue to come true here in Brush Creek with Elder Mahoney and Elder
Johansen. This past week I prayed to Heavenly Father and told Him that I want
to do "His will" and not my own … changing "My to Thy" (“Thy
will be done”). I really found strength in that because I want to do all that
the Lord needs me to do before I leave. I have come to realize that at times
Heavenly Father doesn't answer my prayers in the way that I expect Him to, but
He ALWAYS answers. I know that no matter how many times I mess up I can talk
with Him. I know that if we strive to do His will, He will lead us and guide us
in our lives. I am grateful for the love that I feel from Him and the comfort I
find in the prayers I offer to Him. I know He spends a long time listening to
us and it just shows me the patience that is necessary to be that loving father
I want to be one day. There are some great things that are in store for our
mission and I can feel a great wave of energy entering this part of the Lord’s
vineyard. It is truly amazing. I know that the Lord has His hand in this work
and I love serving my mission. There is nothing I have done that has been as
gratifying as being a true servant of the Lord, Jesus Christ. I want to be one
of His followers forever. I know that the gifts and pearls I have received here
on my mission can and need to be applied to my life forever.
I have two weeks left of this amazing experience and
I am striving to soak up as much as possible. History is being made, and the
Lord is hastening His work right here in the Santa Rosa, California Mission. I
absolutely love it and I am so privileged to be a part of it. Let us press on!
Los Quiero,
Elder Vance
Wednesday, July 17, 2013
The Work of Salvation
It has been such a special week! We were able to
tour the mission and do zone conferences with President and Sister Alba. It was
a fun experience for me to see all the missionaries. I absolutely love all the
missionaries here in our mission. I have grown close to many of them and I am
grateful for the faith they show every day. I love to hear of their miracles
and feel the spirit as they share their testimonies of what they know to be
true. I thought the day would never come for me to give my departing testimony
in zone conference, and it was such a powerful experience for me. I felt the love
of the Savior so strong and talked about how He has changed me throughout my
mission and how close I have come to Him. I talked about how when I was growing
up my favorite primary song was, "I Hope They Call Me On A Mission", and
that my wildest dream of what my mission was going to be has come true. How
grateful I am for a family that has raised me in righteousness and for a sister
that is currently serving a mission. There is nothing better she can be doing
and nothing better we all can be doing. It was a bittersweet moment as we
concluded zone conference by singing together, "I'll Go Where You Want Me
To Go." Tears ran down my cheeks as we sang that hymn and rejoiced
together.
We are working with five part-member families at
this time. It has been an amazing experience to teach the children about the
Savior. The kids have baptismal dates! One child that we were teaching
responded to our question, "How do you know that Heavenly Father
lives?" with "I can feel Him when I pray." It was such a
powerful witness to me that we all need to be as the little children, by
trusting and having faith. I know that this is the Work of Salvation. We are
helping families be together forever … and as we help them gain eternal life we,
in turn, become more converted to the gospel of Jesus Christ ourselves. I know
that true conversion takes a lifetime, but every day I can become better
because Jesus Christ died for me. I know that any person can change. I have
seen it and I believe it. The Lord has opened the heavens upon us. Elders Mahoney,
Johansen, and I love serving here in the Brush Creek ward and we are absolutely
loving it. Pray that we reach the 101 in July! We are on our way!
Los Quiero Mucho,
Elder Vance
Wednesday, July 10, 2013
Spiritual Liberty
This past week has been amazing! The
Lord has dumped blessings upon us and it was one of my favorite weeks of my
mission. We had six investigators at church!
For the last 4 ½ months, Elder Mahoney and I have been praying for a
family to bring into the fold of God and we found them. About a month ago,
Elder Mahoney had stopped by a couple of people that seemed interested
previously but at the time were not home. We both got in the car and, as I was
about to start the car, Elder Mahoney said, "We gotta get out of the
car." It was really hot that day and so I kind of grudgingly got out and
followed him. He began walking down the street and I followed. It was a day of
struggles up to that point for me. We hadn't had much success that week in
teaching or finding and so my spirits were down. We turned down this one street
and began knocking on doors. No one seemed interested. We turned around and saw
a house on the corner with the door open. We walked over and knocked. A woman
came to the door. She was super nice and her name was Jessica. We explained to
her who we were and that we wanted to leave a blessing on her home by saying a
prayer with them. Her eyes lit up and she said we could do that. Her two boys
ran to the door and said, "Who are you guys?!!" Julian (11) and Jaden
(8) both looked up at us and you could see that they felt something different
about us. We told them that we were missionaries. Jessica's husband was busy,
so we felt prompted to say a prayer with them on their doorstep. It was a
powerful prayer. Julian and Jaden told us that they pray at night and know
Jesus Christ. It truly lifted our spirits and was an answer to our prayers, and
they invited us back the following week. I am so grateful that Elder Mahoney
followed the strong prompting he received from the Spirit to "Get out of
the car!". Since then, we have taught them about the Restoration and they
all want to be baptized as a family on July 26th. Jaden and Julian
always ask us if we can do sleepovers or play video games, haha. I love them to
death! In one of our lessons Jessica expressed to us that one of the times we
stopped by she was so distraught and worn down. She told us, "I just felt
so down and when I saw you three, I wanted to throw my arms around you. I have
been looking for something that would unite my family and give us direction in
all of our lives." They are truly amazing. They came to church this past
Sunday! It was such a powerful
experience for me to sit by them, feeling the love we have for each of them.
Brian (the dad) and Julian came in white shirts and ties and they looked like
members already! I know that we are servants of the Lord, Jesus Christ, and
that we are here to help and invite others to come unto Him. I know that He
wants us all to be happy and free from a world of sin.
This past week we celebrated the 4th
of July…the independence and freedom of our country. How grateful I am to
live in a country where I can worship and believe freely. I know that this
country is the Promised Land! I am so proud to be an American, a son of a
Heavenly Father, and a disciple of Jesus Christ. I know that spiritual liberty
can be achieved as well … I feel it in my own life. We don't have to feel
weighed down by the world and don't have to hold onto guilt and shame. We can
be liberated through repentance and the Atonement of Jesus Christ. But how can
we stay spiritually free in our lives? I love this quote:
"Disobedience to the Lord’s commandments will always deprive us of His blessings. The world changes constantly and dramatically; but God, His commandments, and promised blessings do not change. Men and women receive their agency as a gift from God, but their LIBERTY and, in turn, their eternal happiness come from OBEDIENCE to His laws."- Elder L. Tom Perry
We are imperfect beings and yet I
know that we can experience spiritual liberty every day of our lives. I testify
that spiritual freedom from sin and sorrow comes from LIVING God's commandments
every day … it is the ONLY way to have true and lasting happiness. As we obey
God's commandments, we are liberated from the darkness of the world and He
blesses us with a fullness of life that cannot be achieved otherwise. Just like
Brian and Jessica’s family, you can find spiritual liberty through Jesus
Christ. By taking that first step of faith and following Him, you can be freed
from ANY burdens and sins that hold you down.
I know that as I repent I can become
more like my Savior and become pure, even as He is pure. I am living every day
like it is my last. I want to find all those who need this gospel, I want to
teach with power and authority, and I want to baptize my brothers and sisters
that are so desperately searching for liberty from their sins. These are
children of our Heavenly Father. I love my purpose and I love my mission. I
testify that it is through Jesus Christ that we not only have freedom in this
life, but in the life to come.
Los Quiero,
Elder Vance
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